Volume 3, Chapter 1-2 – Awakening

Stella had a dream.

There was no eternal night of the Abyss in the dream, no bloody corridors, and certainly no group of demons whose mental states were deeply concerning.

In the dream, she had not failed the civil service examination, the Inquisitor had not fed her empty promises and tricked her into going undercover, and there certainly had not been the subsequent pile of disasters large enough for her to write an entire Autobiography of an Unlucky Wretch.

She was in the Holy City she had always dreamed of.

Noon sunlight streamed through the stained glass, carrying motes of dust within its beams. Countless specks danced through the pillars of light like tiny stars, dyeing the marble floor in mottled gold.

The sonorous notes of the pipe organ and the choir’s hymns resounded throughout Holy Trinity Cathedral, while she, dressed in Saintess robes, knelt at the very center of the cathedral.

Before her stood a towering divine statue, and beneath it stood the woman who ruled over the faith of all humanity, Pope Celia IV.

The Pope wore an expressionless silver mask over her face, revealing only a pair of compassionate eyes.

She extended a hand. Resting in her palm was the Crown of Thorns that symbolized the highest glory of a Saintess.

“Stella, my child, accept the Lord’s glory.”

But Celia IV’s hand looked strange.

It was completely wrapped in bandages.

A sacred golden glow could faintly be seen beneath the seemingly pristine white bandages, yet at this very moment, dark red blood was seeping through them.

Stella instinctively shrank back.

“Didn’t you want to become a Saintess?”

Celia IV’s calm voice came from beneath the mask, devoid of any discernible joy or sorrow.

“Why won’t you accept my coronation? Wasn’t becoming a Saintess the ending you’ve always yearned for?”

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“Come. Join us.”

In an instant, countless girls walked out from behind the stone pillars surrounding them.

Every one of them wore Saintess robes and the same mask over her face.

In perfect unison, they stretched out their hands. Every hand was wrapped in blood-soaked bandages.

Their hands expanded endlessly before Stella’s eyes, reaching toward her face.

In that instant, the pressure around her seemed to increase hundreds of times over. Dense cracking noises came from between her bones, and Stella felt herself splitting apart piece by piece, shattering.

“Aahhh—!!!”

Stella suddenly sat bolt upright in bed.

Cold sweat had soaked through her silk nightgown, leaving it clinging stickily to her back. She gasped for breath, her pupils still unable to focus after the white nightmare from moments before.

What entered her vision was not a bloodstained cathedral, but the familiar deep crimson velvet bed curtains. Outside the window lay the eternal night sky unique to the Abyss, while the reassuring scent of dry incense lingered around her.

This was Lilith School, her private dormitory.

Stella raised a hand to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead, then gently pressed it against her chest.

“So it was a dream?” She murmured.

A velvety, comfortable silence filled the room. The only sound was the ticking of the clock on the wall.

Stella’s gaze swept across the bedside table.

She saw a black envelope lying quietly there, weighed down by a wax seal that had not yet completely hardened. The design was the highly distinctive pattern of thorns and roses.

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The crest of the Valentine family.

She did not even need to think to know who had left her the letter.

Stella opened the envelope. Inside was faintly scented stationery.

The handwriting was elegant, dark ink blooming across the paper, every character graceful and flowing.

【To my beloved daughter, Stella Valentine:】

【By the time you read this letter, I will already have departed for the Abyss Nexus Council to continue the previous agenda with a group of old demons.】

【You slept rather long, so I did not wait for you to wake up.】

【As a gift to commemorate our meeting, and also as a congratulatory gift for your formal return to the family, I have purchased a property for you on Nightmare Street near the school, Blood Demon Manor. The deed and key are both inside the envelope.】

【The property was once the secondary residence of a collateral relative. Now, it belongs to you.】

【Also, Stella, since you have already taken this position, you must understand that prestige is enough to grant someone the power to manipulate the masses, and it is also the root of other forms of power. Gods, kings, or beauties, none of them can accomplish anything without it. Yet sometimes, nobles have no choice. Politics is the art of compromise, and whether you want it or not, certain things will follow you like a shadow.】

【Be prepared. If necessary in the future, I may need you to make a small… sacrifice.】

【Lastly, if you have time, go see Cheryl. Before I left, I felt that something was wrong with her. She is your younger sister, after all. Get along with her.

【——Love, Vivian Valentine.】

Stella shook the sheet of stationery. A brass key and a property deed fell out together and landed on the blanket.

Stella picked up the key and glanced at the deed.

The Valentine family’s wealth really was astonishing.

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With a casual wave of her hand, Vivian had given her an old mansion near Nightmare Street.

Stella had heard of Nightmare Street.

It was a famous commercial and entertainment district in the middle layer of the Abyss, a gathering place for succubi and higher demons, packed with expensive magic item stores and taverns that stayed open all night.

Owning a detached manor on Nightmare Street, where every inch of land was worth a fortune, meant the annual land tax alone was probably enough to scare someone to death.

As for Cheryl…

Stella folded the letter and slipped it back into the envelope.

After being stripped of her position as the legitimate heir, she was probably hiding in some corner crying right now.

She could go check on her later.

As for the sacrifice Vivian had mentioned in the letter…

Truthfully, Stella had no idea what exactly she meant. Having grown up in a monastery, Stella knew absolutely nothing about politics.

There were far too many things she did not understand. She was like a blank sheet of paper and had no idea what to do. For now, she figured she should simply do whatever she could.

Stella turned her head, her gaze habitually drifting toward the owl perch by the window.

It was completely empty.

There was no long-tailed owl that usually stared at her with contempt, nor were there any new orders.

A thin layer of dust had gathered on the perch.

Stella narrowed her eyes.

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Surely Lainia had not caught it and stewed it into soup. It was a messenger of the Holy See, after all.

Had it left?

But she had not written a reply.

The long-tailed owl’s logic of operation had always been a mystery.

It would always bring the Inquisitor’s orders one-sidedly, then disappear, only to reappear again at some completely inexplicable point in time.

As the field agent of this undercover mission, she had already gone a very long time without reporting back to the Holy See.

Given Itheria’s personality, she should have sent the long-tailed owl to peck at Stella’s window by now, or mailed her a Howler filled with warnings about docking her salary.

But now, there was nothing.

It was almost as though Itheria knew every single thing she had done in the Abyss.

‘…That’s quite scary.’

Translator Note

Yeah, Itheria is sus